APRIL 10, 1950

HYDE PARK, Sunday—It was wonderful to be able to leave Lake Success on Thursday after the afternoon
session and motor up the parkway to get home for a late dinner in Hyde Park. There
were still no signs of spring in the trees along the way. But as I walked with the
dogs in the woods on Friday morning, in spite of the fact that the ground was still
frozen and the wind cold and biting, I did hear many sounds of spring and I can see
green things several inches above the ground in the garden and up along the brook.
We are lucky, I think, not to have had any unseasonable warm weather, because we are
not apt to be caught by a frost when the buds are out on the fruit trees. Work will
be late in our gardens, however, because the frost is not really out of the ground.

Nevertheless, it will not be too cold for the Easter Bunny to hide his eggs out of
doors this year, and I am fortunate enough to have two children with me for the weekend
and to have a young cousin in my guest house next door with two more children.

Easter always seems to me a wonderful season. The burden of our particular church
service is "Christ is risen," after the solemnity of Good Friday which climaxes the
Lenten season and reminds us all of the sacrifice made to redeem humanity. I always
feel that renewal of life in nature, with the end of winter and the rebirth of things all around us,
should give hope to every burdened or saddened soul. We were meant to be gay in this world and to be deeply happy. Disappointments
and sorrows and death must come in human life, but the human spirit must rise above
all sorrows and rejoice in the ever-recurring miracle of the indestructible hope and
joy that is born again in nature and in the hearts of all human beings.

My television program scheduled for Easter Sunday was designed to hear from people
who head up and, in many cases, have founded organizations dedicated to the search
of the pathways leading to peace. We do not all agree on how we can attain our coveted
objectives, but it is good to know that so many people are thinking of ways and means
whereby we can work together.

I happen to believe that we should not rest content with a divided world. We must
press on to find ways to attain some measure of confidence and co-operation, even
with those in whose philosophy, both political and economic, we can not agree. The
United Nations seems to me the best stepping stone in the way of machinery toward
this end. I do not think we are ready to go much beyond the present type of organization,
but I do think that we can constantly strive for improvement.

A happy Easter season to all my readers and may new hope for the world enter your
hearts at this time!

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1950, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR
IN PART PROHIBITED.)